Charles Januarius Acton

Charles Januarius Cardinal Acton

Charles Januarius Edward Acton (born March 6, 1803 in Naples , † June 23, 1847 there ) was an Italian cardinal with English ancestors.

Life

He was the second son of Sir John Francis Edward Acton , 6th Baronet of Aldenhan Hall, and Mary Anne Acton, his niece. His baptismal name was Charles Januarius Edward. The family came from England, however, was to the Roman Catholic faith converted and therefore moved shortly before his birth to Naples. His father was Prime Minister and Supreme Commander of the Kingdom of Naples . His nephew was the eminent English historian Lord Acton .

He was raised an Englishman, and after his father's death in 1811, he and his older brother Ferdinand Richard were sent to a school near London run by an Abbé Auéqué. Then the brothers went to Westminster School , where their religious orientation should be taken into account. In 1819 they moved to Magdalen College in Cambridge to complete their education there. At the age of twenty, Charles moved to Rome and entered the Academia Ecclesiastica . He was ordained a priest in 1827. One of his works aroused the interest of Cardinal Secretary of State Giulio Maria della Somaglia . Pope Leo XII. appointed him Chamberlain of His Holiness in June 1827 and sent him to the Paris Nunciature in 1828 as secretary . Pope Pius VIII appointed him legate in Bologna. After the short pontificate of Pius VIII., He traveled in 1829 to England, where he married took his sister with Sir Richard Throckmorton. Pope Gregory XVI appointed him on February 2, 1837 auditor of the Apostolic Chamber .

In the consistory of February 18, 1839, Charles Januarius Acton was elevated to cardinal in pectore , this was published by the Pope in the consistory of January 24, 1842, and Cardinal Acton became cardinal priest of the titular church of Santa Maria della Pace on January 27 of the same year . In 1840 he was instrumental in founding eight Vicariates Apostolic in England and Scotland. The Pope entrusted him with all important tasks related to Great Britain. He was also involved as an interpreter in the Pope's conversation with Tsar Nicholas I of Russia in 1845 . Charles Januarius Acton took part in the conclave of 1846 , which Pius IX. elected to the Pope. On December 21, 1846 he moved to the titular church of San Marco and a day later was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for Indulgences and Holy Relics .

Since his health was compromised, he withdrew to Palermo and then to Naples. Cardinal Acton rejected the king's request to become Archbishop of Naples out of consideration for his health. He died of malaria in June 1847 in the home of the Jesuits in his native city and was buried in the Cathedral of Naples .

literature

• John Joseph A'Becket:  Charles Januarius Acton . In: Catholic Encyclopedia , Volume 1, Robert Appleton Company, New York 1907.

Web links

• Acton, Charles Januarius. In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website), accessed February 23, 2018.
• Entry on Charles Januarius Acton on catholic-hierarchy.org ; accessed on February 23, 2018.
• Philippe Bountry: Le sacré collège des cardinaux. In: Souverain et pontife. Recherches prosopographiques sur la Curie Romaine à l'âge de la Restoration (1814–1846). École française de Rome, 2002, pp. 5–6 , accessed on May 12, 2018 (French).